Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and how There is Another Way for Africa

The well-documented horrors of extreme poverty around the world have created a moral imperative that people have responded to in their millions.

Yet the poverty persists. At a time of unprecedented global prosperity, children are starving to death. Are we not being generous enough? Or is the problem somehow insoluble, an inevitable outcome of historical circumstance?

In this provocative and compelling book, Dambisa Moyo argues that the most important challenge we face today is to destroy the myth that Aid actually works. In the modern globalised economy, simply handing out more money, however well intentioned, will not help the poorest nations achieve sustainable long-term growth. DEAD AID analyses the history of economic development over the last fifty years and shows how Aid crowds out financial and social capital and directly causes corruption; the countries that have 'caught up' did so despite rather than because of Aid.

There is, however, an alternative. Extreme poverty is not inevitable. Dambisa Moyo also shows how, with improved access to capital and markets and with the right policies, even the poorest nations could be allowed to prosper.

If we really do want to help, we have to do more than just appease our consciences, hoping for the best, expecting the worst. We need first to understand the problem.

From inside the book

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LibraryThing Review

User Review - ToonC - LibraryThing

she gives a concise critique of global aid, with interesting examples. It's very easy to read. Examples and cases are analysed in a scientific and thorough way. The statement is challenging and ...Read full review

LibraryThing Review

User Review - AlCracka - LibraryThing

I recently found myself describing this book as "the literary equivalent of tasing Bono." More or less apt, although actually tasing Bono would be more fun. Anyway: okay, I'm more or less convinced ...Read full review

About the author (2009)

Dambisa Moyo is the author of "How the West Was Lost." Born and raised in Lusaka, Zambia, Moyo completed a Ph.D. in economics at Oxford University and holds a master's from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. She worked for the World Bank as a consultant, and also worked at Goldman Sachs for eight years. In 2009, "Time" magazine named her one of the "100 most influential people in the world." Her writing frequently appears in publications including the "Financial Times," "The Economist," and "The Wall Street Journal.

Bibliographic information

Title

Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and how There is Another Way for Africa